Second Chance
by AliceSwift
Summary: Bella was only five when Charlie killed her mom.Years later,Bella's sixteen,Charlie is arrested and she is taken to an orphanage.When Esme decides to adopt Bella she is given a second chance.What happens when sparks fly with Bella and Edward? E/B.A/J.R/R.
1. Chp 1: Hide and Seek

**Hey guys, new story. Like brain storm with the spark of inspiration I had five minutes ago then start writing the first chapter. **

**Here goes nothing I guess, this is called Second Chance, it's an Edward and Bella mainly, but there's a little bit of everybody. So on with it. Here we go again, thanks for clicking on this story and read on!**

**PLT!**

**~AliceSwift**

* * *

**Bella is five years old. Her parents are out and she is being watched by a babysitter.**

** ... **

"When will my mom be home?" I asked, Nicole was watching T.V. on the couch. Her feet were on the coffee table, there was popcorn covering every inch of the couch, and she was talking on our phone.

"Hang on a sec," she said into the speaker, then turned to me with a disgusted look on her face. "I don't know, like ten minutes?"

I was frustrated with her, why wouldn't she just put the phone down and listen to me for a minute? Luckily she was right, not much later my parents pulled up in the driveway.

"Hey, I'll call you back in a minute, I got to go." Nicole said before hanging up the phone and shoving the popcorn between the cushions, changing the channel to Disney and picking up a book to 'read'. Thirteen-year-olds.

I heard yelling as they opened the door.

"I just don't see why you're always like this." my mother said, throwing her coat on the tree and thrashing her purse on the coffee table.

"Because I-" my dad seemed to realize Nicole and he apologized. Handing her alot of money, she beamed and thanked him. Saying she would wait outside for her mom to come and get her, since she lived a few blocks away and it was dark. She made her way out of the room before my dad turned to my mom again.

"What's the big deal?" my mom yelled. My dad threw a string of bad words at my mom before spitting in her face. My mom was crying, I was still playing with my dolls but they didn't seem to notice me. My mom looked scared and I wanted to help her, but I was scared too. My dad looked agnry and I didn't like him when he was like that.

He screamed and threw the coffee table into the wall. He charged my mom and she backed up into the kitchen screaming at me. "Bella go upstairs and hide! Now! Run!"

I didn't wait for something bad to happen. I ran up the stairs, tripping a few times and blaming it all on my stupid feet for being a size to big for my ankles. I ran to my room and shut the door. I slid under my bed, where I would hide when I played hide-and-seek with my friend Emily, and curled up in a ball. I hugged my legs.

Why was my dad being like this? He was never like this before? What was happening? When would I be able to come out of my hiding place? When would things be okay again?

I was scared.

I heard many more things being crashed and thrashed around outside. My mom screamed the sickest sound I had ever heard.

"Put it down!" she yelled and I heard her run up the stairs. She opened my door and hid in the closet.

My dad came in only a few seconds after. Her sobs gave her hiding place away, I was going to win the game at least.

"Get out here!" he called her dirty names and threw her to the floor where I could see her. She looked at me and smiled, mouthing to me to close my eyes before blowing me a kiss. I gave her one back and closed my eyes. She screamed but the noise was cut short, I heard a dragging noise and then my door slam.

I counted to thirty before opening my eyes.

They were both gone.

I got up and looked out the window which had been open the whole time. I saw Nicole's mom pull up and she got in the car.

But I thought nothing of it.

* * *

That was then. When I was a little girl. When I still believe that leaves turning in the fall was fairy magic, and that princesses exsisted and got fairy tale endings. Complete with Prince Charmings, castles, white horses, and ball gowns. My world was a block wide. I had friends. I went to school. I was set-up for a pretty good, average, normal life. But that's all it was, a set-up. I had now put all the pieces of that night, which only came in lulls and lurches now, it was so long ago, together and knew what happened. Charlie had killed my mom, Renee.

I had never told anyone. No one else knew. The closet house was miles away so no one heard the noise. The only family we had was eachother. No one else on either side beside maybe a few distant cousins that had no clue I exsisted.

I was so little. Five years old and I had heard my mom be killed, I was just glad that I hadn't seen it. She was my best friend, and in my perspective still held that place in my heart. Charlie never sent me to school, he wouldn't make me go, and the first days after that night I hadn't desired to. When I did he wouldn't take me, I told him I could ride the bus, he wouldn't let me. Most likely afraid I would tell someone about what happened and that he would get in trouble.

Now, I didn't want to talk about it. I was almost okay. I was almost able to go through a day without thinking about it. I shouldn't be this torn up about it, and I know it sounds pathetic to say, but I had made progress since that night. Think about it. I had never got any comfort. I had never gotten any help or guidance about how to get over it. I had never had a woman to guide me through life, and Charlie sure as hell wasn't ready nor willing to do that for me. I didn't have any friends. I didn't have anything driving me so I would get out of bed everyday , excpet the fact that it was the same bed I had hidden under and that my mom had died by. What was the point of living?

Charlie.

He was, at the very end of the day, and as much as I hated admitting or accepting it, my dad. I had to take care of him and God knows he needed it. He proved that few months ago.

He came back to the house drunk and I was finishing up a test online; when I was about ten I was watching T.V. and heard about them. When Charlie recevied papers from the school district asking for a signature, he was so drunk that he signed them and had me send them back. I, luckily, had caught on very quickly and flew through my full years of grade school in months. I was about to endure my third year of high school.

He had burst through the front doors.

"Bella, help me you've got to help me hide." he slurred as he ran towards me. When he stumbled into the kitchen the gust of air that dragged behind him smelled of all sorts of alchol.

"Why? What happened? What's going on? Why are you out of breath?" he was huffing and puffing.

"The police are outside, in the driveway. They're chasing me."

"Why!?" Wasn't I supposed to be the one getting in trouble? I was the sixteen-year-old girl here. I was supposed to come home drunk and he was supposed to bail me out of trouble. Ground me and send me to my room. Sometimes I still wonder that if he hadn't killed my mom, if he had been the perfect dad or closer to perfect than what he was now at the least, what would I have been like. Would I have been _that girl_? The girl that did come home at two from a party drunk? Would I be closer to who I was now? More calm and sort of a loner by force than a partier? Would my life have been changed completely? Who would I be?

_"Open the door now or else we'll have to bang it down." _

"Help me Bella." he begged. I looked into his eyes and tried to find it in myself to do what he asked, but my eyes were hazed with hate for him.

The door came down and he slapped me before the police took him away. The sheriff got my name and asked if he had ever shown this type of aggression before.

"No," I shook my head. Lying. Charlie had set my mom's death up to look like someone else had killed her. Most likely ran her over with the car a few times before calling 911 and reporting the lie. He called the police, we had a small ceromony for her. A few of her friends came, but overall the service was just me and my dad. A very good actor he was. Gave a speech with tears and all, but it was an act. Now he was sitting in some cold nasty jail cell. I honestly hoped to never, ever have to see his ugly, twisted face again.

It turned out that he had stolen a numerous amount of drugs and had been high on something at the time. He was going to be in jail for at least five years.

Days later I had packed my bags. I was being sent to an orphanage in Seattle until I turned eighteen. Two years. Only two years I had to wait out until I could get out and maybe be normal, or my version of normal. The orphanage had sent two woman over to get me and take me back. It had been a long, pretty silent ride but it was better when I got there.

I had met wonderful girls who were my age, they welcomed me with open arms. They also let me know that they weren't going to judge me becuase of my dad. We were all in the same boat, I was just a few seats over from them. I didn't relate ot them well. While they had grown up together I had lived far away form them, though I somtimes envied them for all being so close.

I had met a beautiful young girl named Cynthia, she was only three and I had fallen in love with her on my first day. She asked me to play dolls with her and I couldn't turn down her big blue eyes or her angelic blonde curls. I looked after her like a big sister and she would always be my sister in my heart.

"So did you hear that there's someone coming in today?" Cynthia asked me as I folded clothes. I had been here for a few months now and was helping out with the younger kids. I closed the last drawer and went over to the pile of sheets that layed on a cot. I spread out the first one and tucked the corners in.

"Really? Do you know anything about her?" I asked. I loved her curiosity and her aspiration to learn.

"I heard that she was really rich and married to a doctor." she said, flopping onto a chair that sat in the corner.

"Well, that's great Cynthia, and how did you find that out?" I asked, eyeing her suspisiously. She was known to get in trouble too.

"I stood outside the door when they were talking about her coming. They said that she was coming in for a girl Bella, how great is that? What if she picks me? What if I go home with someone today?" I could almost hear her tiny heart thudding inside of her chest.

"I hope you do." I honestly did. It was easy for girls like Cynthia to go home to a normal family and live a happy life from there on, but not for people like me. A teenager who no longer has a round, child-like face, or sparkling charm. Big dreams and the aspiraton to follow them. A hope that everything is possible and seeing the best in everyone I meet. That had all been taken away from me before I was ready for it to be.

"You too." she smiled and hopped out her seat before walking out of the room.

Soon enough everyone was called down for lunch. Unlike the other girls who would sit at tables and gossip after lunch was done, I would help out in the kitchen. Clean things up and do the dishes, wash tables in the cafeteria and mop or sweep the floors.

"Thank you so much Bella, for helping out." Sherry, one of the lunch ladies, said, patting my back as I put one of the last plates away.

"No problem, don't mention it." I said turning to face her. She told me that I better get back with the other girls and I left the room. I was playing with Cynthia and her friends Lillie and Michelle when a very pretty woman walked into the room.

She took off her dark sunglasses and shook her hair out as she walked through the room observantly, heels clicking as she stalked across the hardwood floors of the orphanage. She glanced around as the head mistress spoke to her, though she didn't seem to be listening. She made eye contact with a few of the girls, which was rare, though I didn't know why, when people like her came in. She smiled and looked around a bit more before looking at me. She looked at me for a very long moment and my heart skipped a few beats. I saw something, in her eyes, something that worked through her eyes but was coming from her heart. I looked up, I had been looking down but pretended not to notice her gaze, which was on verge of being a stare. I smiled at her politely and she winked at me, her lips forming a gorgeous smile around her perfect white teeth.

"She's looking at you Bella," Cynthia told me and I looked back down at her.

"She's looked at you too, it could be any one of us." I told her. I looked out of the corner of my eye to make sure that she wasn't looking at me any more. She was over talking to Sylvia, an eight-year-old who had come here only a few days ago. She had been standing in a corner by herself so ovbiously she had stood out. The woman bent down to even out the difference in height, Sylvia smiled and laughed. The woman stood back up and left the room.

Hours later, some would say that these hours were the longest of their days here, we were waiting. These were the hours in which no one really wanted to talk, or play or do anything but wait. Almost all of the older girls sat and either read or slept. Waiting. The younger girls who weren't sleeping or alone were talking to Sylvia, who seemed to be exaggerating more than nessecary. Waiting.

I looked around the room. No one was even moving really. There were two girls looking at a magazine together, not speaking or making any eye contact, turning the pages mindlessly and aimlessly. Three different girls were sleeping, two were playing dolls about the previous events, I had a feeling that what happened today would live on in the walls of the orphanage for a long time to come.

I decided then that the room was too quiet. Not enough water in the air, not enough movement to look alive. I got up and walked out of the room to the bathroom. I closed the doors behind me.

I looked into the slightly cracked mirror that hung above a porcleine sink. I don't remember sweating but appearently I had been, the tear shaped drops that lined up across my forehead proved that. I turned the faucet on and the water that streamed down seemed too loud for comfort. I splashed some on my face anyway and turned it off. I got two paper towels and dried my face. I walked outside of the room to get a drink of water when someone said my name.

"Isabella," a voice said and I turned to see Ms. Andrews standing in the doorway that lead to the main room. Ms. Andrews was the head mistress, and I think part owner, of the orphanage.

"Yes?" I said, I was shocked she even knew my name, let alone as what most called me, Bella.

"Someone wants to see you." she smiled at me.

"Who?" I asked, I had no family except Charlie, no friends and no one who really knew me besides people here.

"Mrs. Cullen, you most likely saw her earlier today when she came in. She was looking into adopting you." she smiled again and I could feel my expression go from confused to shocked.

"Really? Um, okay where is she?" I said not sure what to do. I wasn't one of the girls who got called up to the main office alot. The office is where people go when they're about to leave. Normally there will be many girls who will go when someone comes in, ordinaryily it's pretty much always the same group of girls. I was never called up.

"Follow me." she said and vanished. I dashed out the door behind her. She walked quickly through the lobby and into her office, I had to step up my pace to keep up.

"Mrs. Cullen, this is Isabella Swan, the girl that you asked to see." the woman from earlier stood up in my presence, something no one had ever done before.

"Yes, this is her." I expected her to hold out her hand and shake mine, but instead she extended her arms to hug me.

"Now, let's sit down and talk shall we?" Ms. Andrews said. There were three chairs in the room, one belonged to Ms. Andrews the other already occupied by Mrs. Cullen, I took the seat next to her.

I couldn't listen to what was going on in the room around me. My mind was too cluttered, to busy, too occupied with thoughts I didn't know how to handle.

In about a half hour all the paperwork was done. All the forms were filled out. All the initials had been signed and I was on my way to pack my things.

"Bella where were you?" Cynthia asked me as I got my bags from underneath my cot.

"I'm leaving. She chose me Cynthia, me of all people." I whispered for Sylvia was standing a few spots over from us, most likely still hopefull.

"Bella I'm so happy for you!" she reached her tiny arms up and wrapped them around my neck to give me a hug.

"Thank you." I said and I hugged her tightly, pulling her into me knowing this might be the last time, in a long time, I would see her.

"So I guess this means that I won't see you anymore?" she sounded a bit sad, which is not what I wanted.

"No, Cynthia I promise that I will see you again. Maybe not soon, maybe not even this year, but I will. Do you understand me?" I said sternly, determined to make the promsie true.

"Yes." she shook her head and her curls went in different directions. I gave her another hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"I have to go. I'll see you." I said and put her down. I walked out the doors of the orphanage with her and we got in her car to drive home.

* * *

"Thank you for taking me in Mrs. Cullen." I said about five minutes into our car ride. "I can't begin to verbalize how thankful I am that you came in today." It was true, why would I lie about that? I was thankful that she had come in, otherwise I would have spent the next two years there. Not the worst, but in comparisson I would have chosen the situation I was in now hands down.

"Please, call me Esme, and don't mention it. When I first saw you Isabella I knew you were perfect."

I blushed. "You can call me Bella, everyone else does."

"Okay, Bella then." she gave my thigh a comforting pat and I knew from that point on we would get along great. "I think that I should probably warn you that we do have a rather large family." she sighed staring straight ahead into the rain.

"Really? Would you mind telling me about them?" I asked curious.

"Well, there's me and my husband Carlisle, he's a doctor down at the hospital. Then we have our two daughters, Alice and Rosalie. Alice is eighteen, and Rose is only two years older, twenty. Then our sons Emmett and Edward. Edward's seventeen, Emmett eighteen, he's adopted too so you shouldn't feel left out. Alice also has her husband, Jasper, living with us because they couldn't find anywhere else to stay. Don't ask me why they decided to get married so young, it's beyond me. But just the same they seem happy to be together." she looked over at me and smiled, watching as I took it all in.

For the first time,in a long time, I was going to have a real family. A real family who would love and care for me as much as my mom at one time had. This was huge for me, epic even.

"So Bella, what about you. You lived with your dad up until a few months ago from what Mrs. Andrews tells me."

I wanted to tell her. I did. I wanted to scream that he was only my father biologically and never emotionally. I wanted to tell her about how badly he treated me and how I had never truly experienced public school. Most of all I wanted to tell her about the better part of the tragety. I wanted to tell her about my mom and tell her how incredible she was and tell her how much she loved and tell her how much I loved her.

But I couldn't.

Because my mind went back to a place that it had been banned from by itself long ago. I saw my mother's face. She smiled at me and told me to close my eyes.

"Um, yeah I did." I shook my head slowly trying to gather my thoughts

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but I would really love it if you would. I think that maybe it would help me understand you better. Help us be closer." she elbowed me and I smiled again. I hadn't realized the last time I smiled was so long ago. I didn't smile much when I lived at Charlie's, if I smiled in the past months it wasn't real, or because I was happy. The smile that spread across my face now was true. It felt awkward and might have looked the same, but I had better get used to it because I had a feeling that I would be doing alot more of that.

"Thank you." I said looking down at my hands which were in my lap. "Maybe later." I nodded, pretty sure that eventually I would be able to tell her.

"Another time then." she nodded and looked forward again. She pulled off the road and into a long dirt driveway. We kept on for about another minute before I saw the house.

It was very tall and light looking. It had a wrap around porch with a bench swing the hung from the ceiling. It looked like very wealthy people lived in it, which I guess they did. Her husband was a doctor, if she had a profession I'm sure it paid well. She seemed like a very smart person and her connection with people gave her a certain charm that was most likely hard to find in potential employees.

"We're here." she said as she parked just outside a huge garage.

"Wow." I said breathlessly, turning to get a better view of the gorgeous house.

"Thank you," she said and laughed lightly. "We had it built just before Rose was born." she looked out her window and scanned it up and down with her eyes, looking like she was remembering great memories and stories that I for some reason hoped to hear. She shook her head clear of whatever she had previously been thinking and looked at me. "Are you ready?"

"Not hardly." I said and sighed.

"Well , you'll have to go in sometime."

"I know." she laughed and got out. I rolled my eyes and followed her to the back where my two bags lay in the trunk.

"Don't worry we'll go shopping for you soon." she smiled taking one and I grabbed the other.

"Thanks." I said. Though I loathed shopping, the gesture was nice and for once sounded enjoyable.

She led me up the front steps and across most of the porch before we reached the door. She slipped her keys out of her pocket and put them in the knob, twisting them to unlock the door and let us in.

"Can everyone please come down the family room please, I have someone I'd like you all to meet." Esme called when we first got in the doors.

The first two down was one blond man and a short, pixie like girl.

"Bella this is Alice and Carlisle, my daughter and husband. Guys, I'd like you to meet Bella, she's a part of the family now so we're going to treat her like one okay?" Esme looked at them both with a questioning expression.

Carlisle looked at me with honest eyes, truth glowing behind them "It's lovely to meet you Bella." he took my hand and shook it.

"You to Dr. Cullen." he laughed at that.

"Please, Carlisle." he insisted.

"Carlisle." I nodded.

"Bella," Alice gasped then."That is such a pretty name! Oh,"she threw her arms around me and gave me a hug. I awkwardly hugged her back.

"Um, thanks?" I said with a light tone in my voice.

"Oh my goodness is this all you brought?" she gestured towards my suitcases and I nodded. "Well that just won't do, will it? We'll have to take you shopping here soon."

"I already heard." I smiled and she laughed a sound not far from a baby's coo in response.

By then the others had appeared. A tall, gorgeous, blond girl who I presumed was Rosalie. A boy with curly brown hair who was either Emmett or Edward. I could only figure he wasn't Jasper. I assumed Jasper was the blond boy who walked up to give Alice a kiss.

"It's nice to meet you Bella." he nodded towards me.

"You too." I said and Emmett came up to me then.

"Hey," he said casually.

"Uh hi." I said back.

"So you're new here huh?" he crossed his arms across his broad chest.

"Um yeah, it's my first day." I nodded playing along with whatever game he had set up.

"Figures." he said before laughing. I laughed too, though I wasn't sure what was so funny.

"Rose come and say hello." Esme encouraged but she refused.

"That's okay." I said, I didn't want someone not liking me on my first day here, especially someone who would be the equivalent of a sister to me. "I'm sure I'll get to know you soon enough." I looked at her and she just looked down at her face.

"Rose, you will be nice." Esme said and Carlisle went over to her. He gave her a hug and then let his arms hang on her shoulder.

"Now, where's Edward?" Esme asked herself looking around the room. "Edward come down here please!" Esme called back up the stairs.

"Hold on one second." a voice yelled down the stairs. A smooth velvet voice that I assumed was Edward's.

"What's he doing up there now?" Esme rolled her eyes.

"Writing, he's almost done." Alice shared and he appeared at the top of the stairs.

He was gorgeous, almost unreal looking. His beautiful green eyes burned holes in my brown ones, his tee shirt hugged his body just right in a way that showcased his muscles, his tousled bronze hair looked thick and yet soft at the same time. His rigid jaw line should have thrown of his otherwise pretty face but it didn't. It only made him more beautiful somehow.

"Edward this is Bella, Bella this is Edward."

The boy, who honestly looked more like a Greek god than anything close to a boy, walked down the stairs to me, eyes never leaving mine.

"Bella." he held his hand out for me to shake and I took it, too eagerly. I wanted so badly to reach out and touch the smooth texture that was his face, I wanted to knot my fingers in his hair and see if it felt how it looked.

When I did take his hand, it was as if there was something that wanted me to do everything I already wanted to. A magnetic pull that wanted me closer to him, but I wasn't going to ruin my chances here. So I shook his hand politely and simply said, "It's nice to meet you Edward." he nodded and pulled his hand away. Too soon.

"Alice would you mind showing Bella the house, I'm sure she would love a tour." Esme said smiling as always.

"Sure, come with me." Alice said and danced away.

I followed her, but still risked a glance back at him before leaving the room and disappearing into the shadows.

* * *

**That's that. What'd you think. Love it? Hate it? Think I should keep going or do you think I should leave FanFiction with what little dinity I have left?**

**Let me know in a review! Also you can make predictions to what you think will happen next and your thoughts might end up in this story.**

**Thanks for reaidng!**

**PLT!**

**~AliceSwift**


	2. Chp2:The End Starts with a new Begininng

**Hey guys! I would like to thank you all...NINE REVIEWS! In what...six days or something? THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! I tried to make sure I responded to all of them and I will definetly, without a doubt, keep that up. I love talking to you guys and, as I told a few of you, it blows my mind that you took the time out of your life to stop and tell me how much you liked what I wrote. THANK YOU AGAIN! I would also like to thank xxRezxx for the idea about tonight's Edward POV, and thank Hp-Twil-Fan for reasurring me that I will always have at least one review on every story I publish to FanFiction. Thank you all so much! I would love for you to repeat those all too kind actions again at the end of this chapter. I know that I promised you all an update the day after the last chapter, well it's June now and that didn't happen. I will try to be better and please I'm begging you for one last chance.**

**By the way if you're a reader of my story Suddenly, then stop by here in about an hour and a half and I'll have a new chapter for you, if you haven't read it at all, then stop by any way cause it'll be fun. **

**lots. of. love. **

**PLT!**

~AliceSwift 

I woke up to the unusually bright streams of light coming in through the windows and spreading across my face, warning me of the morning, letting me know it's time for the day. I stood up and got dressed in a white tee shirt and jeans. Esme, my mother, always told us that when she adopted we should all act natural and calm. Of course Alice was anxious. Well she is normally excited anyways, but if her excitement was a guitar it was as if it turned from acustic to electric and was plugged into an amplifier. I loved Alice deeply, but on these days she was the most annoying being I had ever crossed paths with on the face of the planet. I hoped that with the first time, Emmett, already out of the way, everyone would calm down a little bit. My mother had been insisting for months now that we must have another girl in the house since Jasper through our equal balance off. Not that she was truly mad of course, she was happy for Alice and Jasper as were the rest of us. So today was the day. She would come home in only a few hours with a new girl and I would have to get used to the fact of having yet another sister. Two wasn't enough anymore huh?

I assumed this time, instead of coming home with some fifteen-year-old Emmett, she would come back with a little girl. Not more than a few years old. Of course with Rose being twenty, my mother was too old to have children. She had spent so many years thinking about it and not enough doing something about it. I think that for her it was just a need to be needed. She had always had someone wanting her for something, so much so that, when I found the depths of it, I was amazed she hadn't gone insane yet. She had six sisters and five brothers, all blood related and all having been married with kids before she could blink. Three of my uncles had been married, had two kids, then divorced. Making two of the three have four kids, and the last have three. The other two had big families of at least six each. So all my uncles and their families would add up to at least twenty nine. Then two of my aunts had families of four. One had seven, another six, and one five. The biggest family in the whole clan was my aunt who had nine kids, and then her and her husband making eleven. That makes, with my uncles, sixty-six. Plus my family of seven, soon eight, making seventy-four, there was always someone that wanted my mom for something, so normally I wouldn't get to spend alone time with her. My chances would only get slimmer with today.

I made my way down the halls and watched my family operate in full motion with the excitement of the morning.

Alice was in her room, still in her pajamas despite her time limitations of about thirty minutes, throwing clothes out of her closet and complaining of what little she had to wear. For a guy who's wardrobe consisted of tee shirts jeans and maybe a few pairs of sweats, she seemed to have the Mall of America in her closet. She worked at a small boutique on the other side of town, it was the best job that someone with her experience and education could get.

I walked past Jasper's room and he was shuffling through his breifcase, he was planning to become a lawyer and was currently an intern at a local firm. Sure, he made coffee runs and fixed the copy machine when it jammed, but he was on his way to becomming a big shot lawyer. He had graduated high school a year early with a 4.0 every semester since the seventh grade. Smart guy, he'd figure out a way to make sure he got his fair share of the firm.

I was on the stairs and my dad had just put on his coat and left. I turned to go into the kitchen and found my mom sitting there clutching a cup of coffee in her small hands.

Alice, Jasper, my dad, and my mom-though she had taken today off- all had jobs. Rose was still looking and was aggravated when Alice got the job that she applied for. She was over that now though, and onto the new thing the irriatated her to no end, whatever it would happen to be today. Emmett was still in high school, so no one expected him to get a job, same thing with me I guess. Though he was only a year or so younger than me it seemed as if I had centuries of maturity on him. I was still looking for a job too, but not finding anything that thrilled me.

"Good morning." she said with a smile and bright eyes.

"Morning." I said and made my way over to the counter.

"So are you going to stay here with the others when I go or will you come?" she asked taking another sip but not dropping her eyes from mine.

"I think I'm going to stay here. It'll be a long day at the orphange, and I've had a bad week. Sorry." I said as I grabbed the pot of coffee off of the counter and got a mug from the cabinet. I poured myself a cup and went to go and sit across from her.

"No, that's fine, probably better. You remember last time." she smiled.

"Oh, I remember." I said and the memory brought a smile to my face. Emmett was so freaked out by us, we had all gone to the orphange that day to meet him. I guess he felt like an animal behind the glass at a zoo or something. Getting pointed at and whispers about him.

"Yes, well, I'll see you later. Can you clean-up a little bit." she stood up and grabbed her bag off the counter then motioned to the already spotless room.

"Sure." I nodded with a smile. She came of and filled her travel mug back up with coffee.

"By sweetie." she said and kissed my cheek.

"Bye mom." I said as she walked out the door.

About an hour later, around ten, Rosalie dragged herself out of bed. She was still in her pajamas, her hair was a haystack, and her make-up from the day before had run all the way down the her chin, but she didn't care.

I was still sitting in the kitchen, reading the news paper when she sat down across from me.

"You came in awfully late last night." I said, folding the paper and setting it beside me.

"Shutup, I'm not in the mood." she said rubbing her head.

"Is that what you say to all the guys?" I said teasingly with a laugh.

"I said shutup!" she stood up and yelled, her voice echoed through the halls.

"Well Rose, if you hadn't scared mom and dad half to death, then dragged yourself in here drunk at four in the morning, waking us all up and making us iritable, then I might give you a little sympathy." I stood up in front of her.

"I don't need your sympathy." her eyes pierced mine as her cold words slipped through her cleanched teeth and floated into the air.

We stared at eachother for a moment before she pushed past me and made her way to the bowls in the cabinet across the room. She got one out and slammed in on the counter before turning around to the cabinet above the sink behind her and grabbing a box of cereal. She slammed that down too and went to the fridge, poured milk in her bowl, screwed the lid on tight, and all but broke the counter with the force of the jug.

I wondered what was wrong with her breifly. I mean normally she was pretty pissy but she seemed extra ticked off today. It was probably just whatever stupid thing happened at her friend's party last night, hopefully she would be better by later. If Rose was still acting this way when Esme go there then we would all habe hell to pay for it.

I shook her behavior off and went back to my morning.

The clock's hands ticked and the dark clouds rolled across the sky and above the sun. The rain fell hard and made lovely backround music to anything that was going on inside. It was soon three o'clock. Rosalie had gone upstairs and was yet to be seen since this morning, Emmett had woken up about an hour ago and was on the couch watching T.V.

My phone rang from my back pocket. I hoped it was Esme, which it was, and that she had news that she had found someone who she thought would fit in great here at the Cullen house.

"So have you found one yet?" I asked, sitting down on the couch next to Emmett who was too fascinated in whatever game he was watching on T.V. to even notice that I was really there.

"Edward Anthony, the girls here are people too. They're humans, just like you and me. They're not things, or ones, they're people, and you better get used to that thought, because," her voice got quiet and excited. "I did find this one girl." I heard the smile in her voice.

"Really? What does she look like?" I asked, only half interested. I knew the answer I was going to get.

"Well, that would ruin the suprise of seeing you new sister, besides, you'll see her in about three or four hours. I promise we'll be there in time for dinner. Okay?"

"Sure." I smiled. My mother had this desire for the most simplistic things to be suprises and special. Like the desricption of a person, she wouldn't give it to me. Whether it was for dramatic purposes or just so the suprise was sweeter, she always kept things like this a secret.

"Okay, did you guys clean up around the house?" I hadn't but I would onlyhave to vacum and maybe clean the kitchen counter tops for the house to look spotless. Well, not Alice's room, due to the fact she dumped her closet out to find what to wear to work, but except that everything would be perfect.

"Yes mom, we cleaned." I said, already going to the closet to get the vacum cleaner.

"Okay, thank you. Now I have to go, I'm just now signing the papers." she said.

"Okay then, I'll see you later." I plugged in the vacum cleaner.

"By sweetie. Love you."

"Love you too." I hung up the phone and started sweeping the vacum across the floor.

I began to imagine what my new sister would look like, normally when I thought of this I thought of a cross between Alice and Rosalie.

Somone tall with dark spiky hair. Or someone short, with long blond hair.

But it now seemed impossible for either of those to be true because my mom would have at least told me that.

Now a different vision came to mind. I saw my mom talking to a little girl with blond curls, bright blue eyes and a round face. She would have a sweet smile that would make even the bitterest old man smile and a laugh that would put any artist's music to shame. My mother would fall in love with her and so would everyone else. Alice would buy her little dresses, Emmett would try to teach her how to play football, my dad would show her how to play check-up, I could tell her about the piano, my mom would show her any kind of love a mother could give her child. Rosalie, she might not do anything, I wasn't really wuite sure what she was going to say to the new girl today, I hoped nothing really. It seemed like it would be a shame for her first day to be ruined by some of my sister's harsh words.

But then again it was another thing for Rose to get used to, which always took a long time.

Three hours later things were chaotic.

Alice was rsuhing around in her rom, trying to find something to wear still, of course she would need a new outfit just for this. Jasper was in her room to, reasurring her that she looked fine in everything she tried on, but she didn't listen. Emmett was upstairs listening to some music, or reading a magazine or something. Rose was still pissed at whatever she had been this morning. My dad was hurrying around the kitchen, following my mom's orders to make dinner. I was up in my room playing my piano.

My roojm wasn't very big, and there was a piano downstairs that I could use, but normally there was too much noise down there. It was quieter in my room and I enjoyed being able to write music in piece, even if this did take up half of my room.

"Can everyone please come down the family room please, I have someone I'd like you all to meet." Esme called and I heard the fron door slam shut.

I saw Alice grabbing Jasper's hand and running down the hall. I heard Esme introduce them, I would be down there as soon as I firgured out this one part of the song. I heard my dad laugh, and Alice sounded excited, I honestly wanted to be down there and see my sister but I had to get this done or else I would never finish. Besides, Rose had already pulled herself out of bed and downstairs, and Emmett had bolted ouit of his room when he firgured out what was going on.

I heard Emmett and Jasper say hello. Then Rose refusing to welcome her. I hadn't heard her response, for that matter I hadn't heard her voice at all.

"Edward can you come down here please!" Esme called up to me.

"Hold on one second." I yelled, shuffling through papers to find tha part of the song that was similar to the part I wanted to come next, if I could find it then I coudl switch the notes I wanted to be swtied and I would be done.

Finally, I found the paper and rewrote the last notes. I walked down the steps so that I could see whoever was standing by Esme at the door.

She was beautiful, any model anywhere would have envied this girl for the amount of beauty she brought with her presence. Her brown eyes, which should have been boring, looked into mine with a sprakle of adventure and hope. Despite the uniform she was wearing, a pleaded skirt that didn't show her ankes and a long sleved shirt with a collar, the highest button done, she looked gorgeous. Her slightly curled brown hair cascaded down her back with such grace it hurt. The front pieces framed her heart shaped face making the perfect picture. Her pale skin tone and nervous smile should have thrown off her beauty, but somehow only enhanced it.

"Edward this is Bella, Bella this is Edward." Esme said with a smile.

This Bella girl was no four-year-old blonde with curls and blue eyes, but she was something just as special. I walked down the stairs to meet her. I held out my hand and she shook it without thinking. Esme must have secured her trsut in us on the ride over.

"Bella." I said as she shook my hand nicely.

"It's nice to meet you Edward." I nodded and pulled my hand away, though I so badly wanted for our hands to be intertwined forever.

"Alice would you mind showing Bella the house, I'm sure she would love a tour." Esme said smiling as always.

"Sure, come with me." Alice said and walked happily away, Bella following after her.

**So there it is, please let me know what you think. I know this chapter was boring and not nearly as good as last one, but I didn't really have any huge drama planned for Edwrad this time. Next time though, I should have some details on why Rose is so mad, and maybe Alice trying to find out more about Bella. So come back even though this chapter wasn't very great because I promise next time will be better.**

**PLT!**

~AliceSwift 


	3. Chp 3:Never Escaping The Flaws of Myself

**Here's Second Chance, tell me what you think at the end please!**

**"And all I've tried to hide, it's eating me apart. Trace this life out."**

**-Dirty Little Secret.**

**-All American Rejects.**

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The rest of that night went by in a blur. Alice showed me all of the different bedrooms, none of them stood out to me now though, along with the bathroom, kitchen, dining room, and living room. Also several other that I didn't even know could exist in a house.

Back at Charlie's everything was dirty. I would clean when I could, but that wasn't very often considering I had school during that day and Charlie to attend to at night. At the orphanage things were clean but only to the best of the custodian's ability. Considering the size of the building, and that the janitor was almost eighty years old the best you could say was that he tried.

Here, everything was clean. Everything was shiny and sparkling and gorgeous beyond description. Every corner that I turned and every room that I entered was marvelous in it's own way. Oak dressers and walk-in closets. Glistening counter tops and smooth porcelain. This was the closest I'd ever be to perfect.

Now, though, I was in bed. Thinking. Why did I get this? Why was I the lucky one who got chosen out of every child to come and live with such a wonderful family? What made me fit to be here over every one of those girls still lying in bed at the orphanage?

I knew that if I kept thinking about things like that I would drive myself insane. All these questions that no one would ever really be able to answer. I know that people go insane from things that they can't change, and since I wouldn't be able to change my situation for at least two years. I might as well wait it out and see what was in store.

Really though, to me, that almost seemed like giving up. Giving up was something that I wasn't used to doing and had never really planned on. But I suppose that when you're adopted, it's never really a scheduled event is it? No. It's not.

And for me, like I mentioned, giving up wasn't either. So the only way to escape this was to fight.

The only way to fight was to run.

I went over to my bags, which only contained a few things, none of which held any real significance. I only grabbed a jacket, a pair of sweats, and my old pair of black converse from the bag before heading out my bedroom door. I opened it carefully, slowly, expecting it to creek when it was moved just like every other door I had opened, but it didn't. It opened and closed without a peep. As I walked down the stairs, I made sure no one heard me, taking on each step with a new delect and careful grace. Well, my form of grace which would probably look like stumbling to anyone else, but I still made it don the stairs without anyone waking.

I opened the front door and a pale shade of gray sky welcomed me into the morning, birds chirped good morning despite what I was doing I couldn't help but smile. Mornings were familiar to me, Always waiting for Charlie to pass out then head out to the grocery for the week's supply of food.

It was sometimes hard, only living off the money Charlie got for unemployment, and what the state gave us since he was a single parent and had no job. It was a squeeze most of the time, but it worked out in the long run. At least, I assume it'll work out, I'm still waiting for a resolution. Waiting for something to tell me I was going to make it and the rest of my life would be as normal as I could make it.

I started running, something I loved doing and was actually used to despite most of my days were spent in doors. I always made sure to get out of the house at least three hours a week. I'm sure that seemed insane to most but to me it was the norm.

So I ran. I ran and looked around a the scenery that I would be surrounded with for who knows how long. I ran for almost an hour, I was counting the seconds in my head, then I found a spot where I could sit and rest.

It was a tiny board walk that looked over a huge, glistening lake. I could hear the ducks quack, and frogs croak as I walked up to the wooden walk way.

It was a nice sort of quiet, nature's song the only thing that would fill the otherwise silent morning. It was soothing, and it had a calming affect on me after my day at the Cullen's which included two of my least favorite extremes. A noisy, family dinner-everyone talking, making conversation, the look of anticipation on Esme's face when she would look at me from across the table, waiting for me to chime in on the subject when I could only, vaguely recognize what they were talking about. That evening quickly, turned into a silent, dark night. A haunting loneliness filled a room that I had never slept in, not a sound in the entire house to humanize the environment I was in.

So this was a nice medium, enough quiet to clear your head and let you think, but just the right amount of noise to let you know that life lives on outside of the jail cell your mind can sometimes become.

I walked onto the dock and it creaked under my weight. The sun was just beginning to rise off the horizon, and it was casting a, somewhat, blinding glow off the crystal water. I walked the rest of the walk way, taking slow, deep breaths, and keeping my steps even. I let the crisp air fill my lungs and my mind memorize everything about this moment. A true moment of freedom and knowing that life was still pure and good in some places. That God was there in a few beautiful scenes and maybe even in the outcome of a few not so good ones.

I reached the end of the dock and sat down at the very edge. I hugged my knees, resting my chin on top. I gazed out at the water in front of me, every so often a chilling breeze would roll through and it would blow my hair back, biting my skin and poking my cheeks with every touch. I had to close my eyes to prevent from crying, not from any emotions of course, the wind was just that strong.

I looked at the water directly beneath me, noticing the life that lay under the surface of the water. Fish of all sizes, different plants of all shapes and forms. Wild colors from green to blue, even a few shades of red to throw off the palette.

Absolutely gorgeous. But as I gazed down in wonder I couldn't help but wonder why we all can live in a world that beautiful. What makes us different from the fish? They have to deal with the problems and their surroundings yet they still look happy.

Then I realized that we were like the fish, exactly like them. They had fears and things that were supposed to get in the way of their life, and then they were faced with either overcoming them, letting that take over their life, or pretending like it wasn't there at all.

Just like us.

In all reality, is it even reasonable to assume that anything is perfect? Doesn't everyone have their own dirty shame that they're afraid of revealing? Their own secret that they would never live down if someone else found out?

I know I do.

I took my shoes off then, rolled my pants up to my knees. The water would be freezing, but I didn't care. I didn't care if the water life didn't have a perfect community. They looked perfect and that was all that was missing from my life right now.

I could never escape the flaws of myself.

Without hesitation I pushed the bottom half of my legs into the water. Goosebumps immediately raised on my skin from the shock of temperature. Tiny air bubbles rose from between my toes. Fish came up and nibbled on my ankles. Plant life brushed against my legs. All welcoming me into their world.

I wondered idly why I could accept the fish's welcoming, but not the Cullen's.

I heard a rustle of bushes and squishing of grass behind me. I thought it was just an animal until I heard the footsteps walking across the wood of the board walk. Definitely that of a human.

I quickly made a plan to grab my shoes and start running through the muddy shore of the lake and onto land before the one behind my back could catch me. However, I must have moved too soon to get my shoes because a slightly familiar voice spoke.

"It's just me Bella." I heard, the noise seemed voluminous in the quiet. It almost seemed like a violation of privacy, but really there was nothing I could do about his presence, because nothing here was mine.

"Oh," I said glancing back at him, then to my shaking hand hovering just above me shoes. "Hey, uh-Emmett right?" I asked, hoping I had got his name right.

"Yeah." he said, he was wearing jeans and a light gray hoodie with big pockets that he had his hands buried in. He came up and stood behind me. I moved my shoes and scooted over so he could sit beside me. "Thanks." he said. I nodded in response.

We just sat there for awhile, awkwardly, until finally I heard him chuckle from under his breath.

"What's funny?" I asked, I couldn't help but smile.

"It's just that I knew you would be down here."

"How's that?" I asked, avoiding eye contact.

"This is where I came my first night at the Cullen's house."

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**Please leave me a review and let me know what you think!**

**lots. of. love.**

**PLT!**

~AliceSwift  



	4. Chp4:Silence Hears What You Dont Want To

**Hey Second Chance readers. I know this update is a day late and I apologize for that but I wanted get a thread unwound for one of the ideas I have for this story. So sorry, again, for the lateness but I hope you can forgive me and leave a review because that would be a thousand times more awesome than I deserve. **

**Ready to read?**

**lots. of. love.**

**PLT!**

**~AliceSwift **

**"I've never heard silence quite this loud."**

**-The Story OF Us.**

**-Taylor Swift. **

**(p.s. Did anyone else get Speak Now, her new album? I just got the deluxe edition from Target on Monday and I have to say it's quite AWESOME!)**

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"Oh." I said, I was curious but I didn't want him to feel obligated to tell the new girl about it.

A few moments later he had removed his sneakers and had his feet in the water too.

"Despite how much I love talking and hearing about myself, I'll only tell you about that night if you want to hear it, so you'll have to let me know." he said and I looked at him finally and he winked at me.

"Will you tell me about it?" I asked with a grin.

"I probably had a similar thought process to the one you had. The whole 'why do I deserve this' and 'I feel bad for the rest of the kids at the orphange' sort of thing." I nodded. "Yeah, that's what I thought." he took a breath and gazed out over the water, his mind far away.

"That night I thought I would literally go insane. You know I actually prayed a few times that I would just so that I would have an excuse for the fidgeting I was doing. My hand were shaky, palms were sweaty, head aching, mind running a hundred miles per minute." he paused. "So I got out of bed and just stood there in the darkness. Waiting for my mind to make a decision. But it never did. Finally I had to tell myself where to go. I put on my sneakers and ran out of their house." he looked at me again. "Now, I took awhile to really decide that I was going to leave but you seem a little impulsive to I'm sure you ran straight out of the door."

"I did not." I said instinctively, just to prove him wrong. Maybe he was right. I did tend to be rash about things.

"Really? Because to me the way you bolted out of there it sounded like you were running for your life, but I'm sure it seemed that way to you huh?"

I didn't say anything in response. I couldn't understand why, but I was too embarrassed to.

"Listen, I'm not going to make you talk about anything you don't want to because I know how terrible that can be sometimes. Under pressure from the one speaking to answer, pressure from yourself not to, I get it, I've been there myself. But I will give you advice. Don't be too hard on the family. I know they seem really insane but they'll care for anyone who will let them, well everyone except Rosalie and sometimes Edward but that's for reasons beyond me. If you do something wrong, don't worry too much about it. I know I spent too many hours dwelling on things said that the others forgot only second after they were spoken. Don't be like that, it only makes life worse for you." he bit his lip and smiled. "If you want to know a really easy way to become friends with everyone quickly-try being nice to Alice. She'll, sometimes literally, jump at the chance to have a new friend." I smiled and he grabbed his shoes after pulling his feet out of the water.

"Come on." he said standing up and holding his hand out. I looked at his hand and then his face. I wanted to tell him no, explain to him that I didn't want to go back into the house. Parade around with Alice, faking smiles and conversing in mindless chatter with everyone that we passed. Force laughter and small talk ,which I've never been good at. Maybe I never had that much practice with the material.

"You don't say much do you?" he asked and cocked his head to the side.

My hand reached for my shoes. I didn't tell it to, so I wasn't sure why it had. Maybe it was instinctive, someone tells you to go you do and that's why I felt the need to go with him. Then again maybe my subconscious was telling me something, telling me that I did want to go, that I wanted to go back to the family and be a part of something good and happy for once.

Or maybe it was the obvious, logical reason.

I was possessed.

Just kidding.

I figured that, whatever the reason, I would wader back to the house eventually, walking in with Emmett seemed more exceptional than walking in alone.

I sighed and blinked a few times in confusion to what had given me the sudden urge to go back with him. I looked at his face again and he raised his eyebrows at me. I smiled and took my shoes in my hand as he helped me up.

We walked back to the house in silence.

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I woke up in the morning around 10:30, which was far later than anyone in the house normally woke up. My mom and dad were always the first and they woke up at eight. The others would follow them within the hour, but I would usually get out of bed last. Today Rose was still in bed when I lulled down stairs.

"Good morning Edward!" my mom said all too happily for someone who just woke up.

"Morning." I mumbled as I walked over to the cabinet and got out a bowl, and cereal. I got a spoon from the drawer and went to the table to sit next to Alice and Bella. Emmett was across the table from the two of them, quietly munching away at his pancakes, which was suspicious considering he normally could fill an entire room with his voice.

"So, what does everyone have planned today?" my mother asked from the sink. She was cleaning the dishes as we brought them over to her.

"Well Jasper and I were going to visit some friends for a few days." Alice said. "They live in Portland so we decided to make somewhat of a trip out of the event." she paused, looking for a reaction on Esme's face. "Is that okay?" Despite how much Alice pretended to be a grown-up with her husband, her job, and trying to find a house and things like that she was still only eighteen. And most eighteen-year-olds still need permission from mommy to go to another state. Not to mention funds too.

"I suppose." my mother said. "How long were you planning on staying?" I could tell my mom was tense. I think she was upset at the fact that Alice was trying to get older and out of her life so fast. Alice was her baby, her little girl who would always be seen as nothing but the youngest daughter. Sure, she had me, but I wasn't ever interested in going out shopping all afternoon.

"Um, probably a week." Alice was avoiding Esme's glare. She was barely peeking up from beneath her eyelashes, her main focus was on her hands in her lap.

"That's fine. I'll need to get some money from the bank this afternoon, you and Jasper can come with me." she paused. "When were you two planning on leaving?" she asked, a hint of a smile of her lips.

"Around six tonight." Alice said, her voice cracked. I could tell now that this wasn't a plan that was supposed to be revealed so early in the day. They might not have planned on telling my mother at all. I could tell Alice felt guilty about that.

"When were you planning on telling me Alice?" Esme said, raising her voice which she rarely did at Alice.

"I-uh, I wasn't-"

"Going to tell me." My mom finished her sentence. Alice looked ashamed and I could've sworn I saw a few tears fall from her eyes. "What?" Esme edged on. "Grown-up girl is too high and mighty to tell mommy about her plans? Is that it?"

"Mom." I said quietly and she glared at me.

"Fine Alice. You can go and visit your big grown-up friends and have a big fun grown-up time because apparently we're too immature for you here." she threw the wet dishrag on the counter and it landed with a _slap. _She walked out the the room, leaving it cold.

"Alice I-" I started but she didn't let me finish.

"Can you tell her that I um, went for a drive or something? I have to go." she asked me. She could barely look at me long enough for me to nod my head before she burst into tears. She got up from the table and walked out the front door of the living room.

The room was filled with an awkward silence.

"So, what're you guys doing today?" I asked, filling the need to make conversation.

Bella was quiet. "Um, I'm going out with Rose all day today." Emmett said.

"What are you guys doing?" he looked up from his plate, eyes widened with an emotion that looked like either concern or worry.

"She's been feeling crappy the past few days so she asked if we could go out and just have some fun." he said. I thought it sounded like a lame excuse for them going out and getting in trouble with the police. But I was one to talk about that now wasn't I?

"What about you Bella?" Emmett asked and she looked up from the table.

"Oh, uh, nothing." she said quickly. Her voice sounded less hoarse than it did yesterday. I wondered if Alice had gotten to her, she may be slightly annoying and pain in the neck sometimes, but she knew how to get people talking.

"Edward?"

"Nothing much really." I said.

"Well it looks like you two are going to be alone today then." he said and I could feel Bella tense beside me. "Dad has to work overtime today at the hospital, Dr. Stewart got sick with the flu-ironic huh? So he's covering his patients today."

The room again was quiet until Bella got up, put her dishes in the sink, then went upstairs.

"I'm going to go wake Rose up." Emmett said, picking up his own bowl and Alice's and taking them to the sink. "She wanted to leave in a hour and she needs time to get ready." he paused and looked at me. "Hey, be careful with Bella today alright? I don't want her to get freaked out or anything, and she's probably really sensitive right now."

"I probably won't even talk to her today Emmett, but if I do I'll make sure to call you and ask if what I'm going to say is okay before I say it."

"Seriously? You're really going to get mad at me because I warned you to be careful?"

"No, I'm going to get mad at you if you think I'm stupid enough to say something offending. I've been through this before remember?"

"Yeah." he said and raised his eyebrows. "I do. I've been through this before too except I was on the other end." he slammed the dishes on the table and walked away.

This was an awesome way to start my Saturday.

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Later that day when everyone was gone but Edward and I, I tried to stay in my room and I knew Edward would stay in his. I heard the music from his piano flow through the house. Filling my room, his, the kitchen. Silence would hear each key being stuck by his finger every time he played the same beautiful song-again and again, never bothering to stop and take a breath.

Around one Alice came home, she didn't bother saying hello to anyone. She just came in with Jasper, but they left soon to meet Esme at the bank so they were gone within thirty minutes.

Late afternoon rolled around, rain pouring down outside the window. Despite the beautiful, golden morning that occurred earlier it was a gray storm outside. Alice had told me that sunshine always turned to rain in Forks.

I could have listened to Edward play all day, but instead I found myself looking for something missing. Something that wasn't there but should've been. I searched my mind until I finally realized what it was. A book. Oddly enough I had been a part in this scene a thousand time, just not with this setting. Raining outside, cooped up in a room alone, going outside of my world an into another that I could never dream of.

It itched at me until two-thirty. Finally I decided to ask Edward where the nearest bookstore was. I planned my words carefully, not wanting to offend him in any way.

At three I made it down the hall, I knew he could hear my footsteps, not because the floor creaked, but because he stopped playing completely. Something he hadn't done all day.

I knocked on his door and he told me to come in. His voice sounded strange, but that was probably only because I hadn't heard a voice since around eleven this morning.

I opened the door and he smiled up at me. Perfect white teeth in contrast to his red lips.

"Yes?" he asked politely.

"I was just wondering where the nearest bookstore was." I asked. "Or library." I added quickly, feeling like an idiot when my words came so rushed even I could barely comprehend them.

"Well, we don't have a library for over three counties away, but there is a bookstore in Port Angeles."

"How far is that?" I was looking at the floor and keeping even breaths now.

"Um, almost over an hour away." he said.

"Oh." I said. Feeling stupid.

"Yeah." he said and raised his eyebrows. There was silence for a few seconds as I was planning on how I would thank him and apologize for interrupting but then he cut into my thoughts. "I could drive you if you like."

I looked up, the look on his face was sincere and honest. His eyes were a shade of green that reminded me of a few shades I had seen in the lake this morning. I pulled myself out of that thought before I could get lost in it.

"Yeah, that would be great. If you don't mind of course. I mean, I really don't want to bother you or anything. If you're too busy I could always ask Alice when she gets back. Or maybe Esme wouldn't mind taking me later when-"

"Bella," he said, his voice closer. He was standing in front of me wearing a worn leather jacket over his gray tee shirt. "It's no problem. Let's go." he said.

I was shocked that I might not actually be that much of a bother to him. Maybe he was just as stir crazy as I was and was dying to get out of the house too.

"Come on." he grabbed my hand, gently, and lead me down the steps.

"Do you have a jacket?" he asked when we were in the living room. I shook my head. "Well, I could lend you one of Alice's or Rosalie's," he paused. "But I think it'll be more fun for me to watch you run." he smiled.

"Really?" I asked and he nodded. "Which car is yours?" I asked, turning the knob on the door and opening it to reveal a screen door.

"The Volvo." he said and laughed. It was the farthest one in the driveway. I sighed and he counted down the seconds until I was supposed to go.

"Three...Two...One." I pushed open the screen door and ran into the rain, he followed me soon. Rain fell on my head and my heart raced, pulse thrumming in my ears.

I don't think I've ever heard a noise quite that loud.

* * *

**So next chapter will be fun to write and to read, I hope, because I'll give some insight on Alice and Jasper, then Emmett and Rose, and of course Bella and Edward. I might even do a little short section on Esme, but I might save that for a later chapter. I probably won't write all that much about Carlisle because it'd be boring to hear about sick people and how he is fixing them. **

**Let me know what you thought and what you think. **

**lots. of. love.**

**PLT!**

**~AliceSwift **


	5. ATTENTION SECOND CHANCE ARMY!

**Hello Second Chance readers!**

**This may seem boring but it is very important to me so please read this author's note from a very sorry author. **

**I know that I was supposed to update with chapter five forever and a day ago, but I've been caught up in the whirlwind of NANOWRIMO-National Novel Writing Month, if you didn't know. **

**However, I am not abandoning you. I will update tomorrow and if I don't then you will have every reason to be mad at me. Which you probably already do, but that'll just add a few to the long list of reasons. **

**That's just the first order of business.**

**The second is my Twitter. I just reassembled and updated it and I've decided something. You know how in the author's note of every chapter I post I'll put a quote or some music lyrics that have some relevance to the chapter? Well, I've decided that the day before I post the chapter I will put the quote/lyrics, the chapter title, and a few hints from the chapter. This could be full lines of dialogue, a picture, or possibly a few revealing words. **

**Either way, there's going to be a party on Twitter and I need your R.S.V.P.**

**If you would like to follow me on Twitter than please do this-go on the Twitter website () and find me. My name is AliceSwift on there just as it is on FanFiction.**

**Follow me, then Tweet AliceSwift stating your username on fanfiction and that you are from FanFiction.**

**I should probably know that if someone tweets 'AliceSwift EDWARDLUVEER24335' that it's from but sometimes you just don't know. **

**I will tweet back at you saying...something. It'll pretty much depend on how fantastically awesome your name is. **

**Please, come and follow me! This may sound like begging but that's only because it totally is. I LOVE TWITTER and have no fans to tweet to. So come tweet me and I'll tweet back. We can have lots of fun!**

**New chapter being posted tomorrow, lyrics and quote posted tomorrow morning. **

**Yeah!**

**TWEET ME!**

**lots. of. love.**

**PLT!**

**~AliceSwift **


	6. Chp5:Oscar Worthy

**Here's Second Chance. I know what you're thinking-really AliceSwift? A day late again? I know, I suck at updating on time exactly, but my friend's birthday was happening and I was really busy all Saturday.**

**Oh, and just in case you're wondering-I'm not sure if it was clear or not-Emmett and Rosalie have no romantic interest in each other. At all! They're just super close siblings.**

**So, with all the lateness. Here it is!**

lots. of. love. 

**PLT!**

~AliceSwift 

"Rosalie!" I yelled into her ear. She shot up in bed, her arm flailing and hitting me in the head. She grabbed her hand a winced. I smiled even though my head hurt a little. She looked at me and moaned.

"Damn it Emmett! Do you really have to be that obnoxious all the time?" I nodded and she put her face in her hands.

"Yeah, I do. Anyways, get dressed, we'll stop buy someplace and get coffe but then we have the entire day to anything you want to do." I said. She peeked through her hands to look at me.

"Okay," she mumbled before putting her hands down. "But you have to leave so I can change." she stood up and pushed me out of the room, shutting the door.

I waited for about twenty minutes for her to get ready, clothes, shoes, make-up, hair. I assumed it was hard being a girl, but no matter how long any girl worked to look good, I would still be way hotter.

She came out of the bathroom and we got our coats, ready to head to her car.

The ride started out like most, silent, neither of us really sure what to talk about but when we really got driving she started a conversation.

"Is it crazy that I haven't firgured out the college thing yet?" she asked, out-of-the-blue. Rose had never seemed all that concerned with college. She had wanted to design clothes since she was a little girl. She had taken classes through the years for it, just never kept up with them. She knew what she wanted to do, and how she wanted to get there, she just hadn't put a plan into motion yet.

"No, I don't. I think that you know how you want your life to end up, you just are experiencing everything you've ever wanted to now, that you'll have the leg up on everyone that also wants to end up where you do." she raised an eyebrow at that, then was quiet again. "Why the sudden interest anyways?" I asked.

"I'm not sure. Just a thought I guess." she smiled and scrunched her nose up a little, shrugging.

"Well, you'll get there, and soon. I can completely see Marc Jacobs and Vera Wang cringing at the very thought that they have to put their clothes on the same Fall Runway as you do." she laughed, short and unatural, but a laugh.

She had been acting oddly for the past few weeks actually, oddly for the few weeks, but especially weird since she went to that party a few nights ago. I mean, sometimes she got upset over her boyfriend, or maybe some friends did something to bother her, but she would normally tell Esme, or at least me, about it.

This had yet to be spoken of, but it was there. An unsung problem that was itching at her every second it came to the surface under skin.

I was going to ask her, but then chicken out at the last minute. I opened my mouth to ask _what's wrong _but it came out "Where to you want to go first?"

"I'm not sure." she said and I mentally slapped myself for not just coming out with the real question I had. "Where were you thinking of?" she asked me.

"Well," I thought for a moment. "We could go to the movies, or just stop by The Coffee Cup to talk." I offered and she seemed unphased by my suggestions. Like she didn't hear me. Like she wasn't paying attention.

"Can we actually just dirve." she said looking up from the glove compartment. I hadn't realized she was looking down until she moved her eyes on me.

"Umm, sure. Let's drive."

"Until we find something interesting to do." she corrected.

"Right." I said a bit confused.

Normally Rose was the talkative one. On long car rides she would share her stories and they would blend in with someone else's, in this case mine, but on this particular drive she was quiet. I found this odd, but again I didn't want to upset her. It's not like I was scared of saddening her, as I assume most would be, it's just that I honestly didn't want her to be going through anything more than she was right now. She seemed like she had alot on her mind, and why bother her thoughts with insignificant chatter? There wasn't a reason to.

As we went down the road it started to rain, first lightly but it soon poured and started to storm heavily.

We had only been driving for about five minutes when I heard her sigh next to me. I couldn't describe this one. Normally a sigh was aggravated or sad, put I couldn't put my finger on it. It was almost sounded like she was scared.

"Do we have to go this way?" she asked me, breaking the silence with a worried tone.

"No, but we already are." I asked, trying to fake a lighthearted smile. I felt like I pulled it off, but she sunk down into her seat without another word.

Another four minutes and I heard her make a strange noise, almost like a yelp. Then a sniffle.

She was crying, silent sobs escaping her lips.

I pulled over on the side of the road and put it in park.

"Don't pull over here!" she said violently, turning and looking at me. Her cold hand grabbed my wrist and her eyes locked with mine. Her bottom lip was quivering and her hair was strangely arranged as if she'd been pulling at it. Her chest was hevaing and there were strange choking noise coming from her thorat as if she couldn't breath. The eye makeup she had put on this morning was now ruined, streaming down her cheek in rivers of black and purple. Then I noticed that right by her eye was something peculiar that I had never seen before. A straight, sleek, thin red line that was scabbed over, edges being covered by puffy, pink skin.

Rose wasn't someone know for being clumbsy, or being clumbsy at all for that matter. She had stopped even tripping by the time she was in the seventh grade.

"Rosalie!" I yelled. "What's wrong?"

"I can't tell you!" she yelled back, tears put on hold.

"You've been upset and I need to know why!" I yelled back at her, I was surprised that the windshield wasn't shattering at our noise.

"But I can't tell you!" she flailed her arms.

"Why not!" I was furious now. Someone had upset her and I wanted to know who.

"I can't say!" she choked.

"Just tell me!"

"Emmett!" she yelled at me in a tone that made me shut-up, it was something violent that seemed to be rising from deep inside. I'd struck a nerve, one that someone had created previously.

The car was silent, the windows were fogged from the cold rain on the outside and our breath on the inside, the only sound was the song the rain made on the top of the car.

_Pitter. Patter. Pitter. Patter. _

"I can't" her voice was barely audible.

"I'm taking you home." I said.

"No! I need to get out of that house and God damn it Emmett if you care about me at all you will take me out today." she sounded like she meant it.

"What do you want?" I asked. It was clear that she wasn't looking for a fun afternoon out to get her mind off of things.

She looked around the car for a moment, never moving her head, just her eyes, keeping them low. The she looked at me with a, somehwhat, creepy smirk on her lips.

"I want to trash a hotel room" she said.

"But...why?"

"Because I need to know that there is someway to get over the pain."

"What pain?"

"Just drive to the Best Western next in Port Angeles." she ordered.

So I did, and neither of us said another word about it.

A few hours later I pulled into the parking lot to the hotel. She got out and told me to pick her up in two hours at the back exit.

I walked into the hotel, I hoped Emmett wouldn't try to call and tell Esme about my out break. I honestly didn't mean to break down, it just happened.

"Welcome to Best Western. How can I help you?" the woman behind the desk said with a scared, yet polite smile on her face. She was very clean cut and I probably looked like street trash. She was wearing a uniform that, for some reason, resembled that of a airplain stewartis. Her dark brown hair was sleeked back into a tight bun and red stain ran across her lips.

"I have a reservation under Royce and Rosalie King." my voice cracked, as did her smile and she looked down to the computer screen to type the names.

"Yes you're in suite number 745." she said and handed me a room key. Just as Royce had said she would. I'm not sure why she was in this game too. What had he done to her to scare her so? The same he'd done to me or something worse. "Have a nice day." she said, a lovely actress in this play. Oscar worthy.

I smiled back at her and walked away. Looking for an elevator.

I found one and pressed the number seven, the largest number. It lit up and the small box jolted upwards.

He told me that I should be here early to get ready, to prepare for the worst. Yet when he walked in her was sure going to be surprised.

The doors opened to reveal a neat looking hallway. I walked down the center of it, just like the stongest heroin would do in a movie.

The most bad-ass, the one who doesn't care, who no one, no man, can defeat no matter how big they are because she is always smarter. The truth was, I felt small, I felt insecure, and I, most of all, was scared.

I always thought that trashing a hotel room would be something else, somethig different. Something loud and thrilling.

Really though, with each throw of a chair or smash of glass just felt like another stab in my heart.

The room was trashed. Completely moved around.

White stuffing covered the floor, brown splinters off wood threatend anything that dare walk on it, glass was thrown across the carpet and glinted off the sunlight.

I sat in the corner, scared and alone. How I wish I hadn't turned Emmett down. How I wish he was here to yell at me and tell me that I was stupid for not telling him what was wrong in the first place.

"Rosalie?" I heard a muffled, deep voice from outside the door. I started to back further into the small space until I realized I had no where to go.

"Rose, open up it's me." I realized then that if Royce was here then he would hvae just walked in.

I breathed deeply for a scond, trying to clear my head. I cleared my throat. "Adam?" I yelled.

"Yeah, it's me. What's going on?" I stood up from the ground and ran across the floor, bleeding and hurting, but I didn't care. I hadn't seem Adam since before...

I flung the door opened and looked at him for only a second.

"Rosa-" I grabbed him then and my lips went on to his. I jumed on him and her caught me in his arms, my legs wrapped around his hips. He stepped into the room, wincing as his foot met the floor, this made him step back so he was against the door.

I kissed him with such passion that if Royce had walked in at that exact moment I wouldn't have cared, sure I would have been scared out of my mind, but I would not have stopped kissing Adam.

When I pulled away I expected him to hug me and tell me that everything would be okay, that somehow, my face, or the mess, would tell him everything that was wrong and he knew how to fix it.

But he didn't.

"What the hell? Why did you do this?"

Then I realized he didn't know and that he never could. No one ever could.

I had to keep them safe, all of them, my friends, my family, Adam.

All because of one drunken night.

At a house that I had weeped in front of this morning.

**Flashback next chapter! Follow me on Twitter!**

**lots. of. love.**

**PLT!**

~AliceSwift 


	7. Chp 6:Nothing But A Child

**Has anyone been watching The Walking Dead lately? Awesome right? Can't wait for next season!**

**Also, I have a new writing schedule so go and check it out on my profile. I'm getting used to it so it'll be shaky for awhile before I get used to it. But I'll be updating here every Saturday.**

**See you again then!**

**lots. of. love.**

**PLT!**

**~AliceSwift**

* * *

_"I awoke, only to find my lungs empty. And through the night, so it seems I'm not breathing. And now my dreams are nothing like they were meant to be. And I'm breaking down, I think I'm breaking down"_

_~Sleeping Sickness._

_~City and Colour. _

_

* * *

_

"Alice?" Jasper asked me when I walked into his firm, as small grin on his face.

"Hey, I just um, I just needed to see you, I guess." I said awkwardly. When I was upset, Jasper always made me feel better, but this just seemed stupid. I guess it's like that pair of jeans that you try on in the store, you know, the really cute one with the distressed thighs and bleach spot bottoms and then you get them home and find out that they're not as great as you thought. A better idea in the store. A better idea to come in here in the car. "Uh, actually...it's stupid, don't...don't worry about it." I sniffled, the firm wasn't very far away from the house, so I had been crying pretty much all the way over here.

He looked at me for a moment, studying my face. I looked down from his glare. "Well, I'll see ya." I turned to walk away, nervously pulling at my handbag strap, slung over my shoulder. He caught my elbow.

"Hey, hey, hey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just needed to tell you to meet me at the bank at two. That's all." I said, trying to meet his eyes.

"No, it's not." he smiled slightly. "I know when something's wrong with you. You get all flustered when you try to pretend everything's all right and then when out can't you look down so you can't look me in the eyes. It's obvious Alice, you're a terrible liar. Not what's wrong?" I finally looked up at him.

"It's just that...Esme sort of found out about our plans to go to Portland and freaked out about. She doesn't want to admit that I'm growing up and there's nothing she can do about it. She's just frustrated I guess." I rolled my eyes and he took my hands.

"Well, isn't it reasonable that she would be a little upset about it. I mean, you're her-"

"Don't say I'm her little girl. I'm not little anymore." I said it a bit too loudly and it caused a few heads to turn.

"Come on." he said, releasing my hands and putting one on the small of my back.

"Where are we going? You have to work."

"Not really, they can have someone else get their coffee, they won't even notice that I'm gone." he smiled and I felt the heat of a red flush spread across my cheeks.

Jasper always knew how to make me feel better. That's sort of how we grew to become friends, then a couple, engaged, and now husband and wife.

I still remember the first time we spoke to each other. It was the first day of high school and I was scared out of my mind, an excited brand of nervous, and trying to stay out of everyone's way.

"Hey watch it!" someone had screamed. I still wasn't over my clumsy stage of puberty yet, so it didn't help that I had chosen to wear heels on the first day of the next four years of my life.

"Oh, sorry." I said, but it was nothing more than a whisper. The girl who I had ran into was already headed the other direction and wasn't turning back.

I walked down the rest of the hallway, arm pressed against the wall so I wouldn't bump into anyone. Normally I wouldn't be so nervous, but it a whirlwind of students, teachers, and homework it was hard not to get caught up in.

My heart was pounding in my chest all the way to first period. When we got there, the teacher hardly explained how the school worked. He sent us off to the second hour and returned to his seat at his desk.

The worst thing about being smart and in high school, despite popular belief, was not being called a nerd, nor was it being bullied in the halls by the kids who were jealous you would be making it to college and they wouldn't be.

It was being stuck in AP English class.

However, it turned out not to be so bad, that is, after all, where I met Jasper.

I walked in to the room and took a seat at the very back corner of the room. My thoughts were that the teacher would know who her returning students were and would tell the not-so good ones to take a seat up front. Leaving me with the slightly more mature students in the back. I thought wrong.

Ms. Williams walked in and said to pick a seat in ten seconds. She turned her back and when ten seconds was up she turned around to see me surrounded by football players. With the exception of the seat in front of me, the seven surrounding seats were all jocks. I wasn't going to give into their supposed stereotype until one of them started hitting one me.

"If I could rearrange the alphabet I would put FUCK and YOU together." I laughed shortly because I thought it was a joke.

"I don't think that fuck is a letter, let alone one in the alphabet." he looked at me oddly as if he had never heard a counter remark in his life. Like all girls just gave themselves away to him, as the year progressed, I found out they did. Nothing looks better than hooking up with the smartest, hottest football player.

"What? No, I meant meet me in the janitor's closet during fifth period. I'll show you around." he said and winked at me before turning to his friends who slapped his hands and laughed.

I was about to say something to him, but then a voice came from in front of me. "Is this seat taken?" I looked up at the pretty eyed, blond haired boy that stood in front of me.

"Uh, no." I said blandly. I was still shocked at what the football player, who I later learned was named Wayne, had said to me.

"...on her, like, five times man. It was awesome." I heard one of the football players finishing up a story as Wayne put his hand on me knee. While we were all individually seated, they were close enough together so he didn't have to reach much.

"Hey!" I said, Ms. Williams didn't look up, she just said 'Quiet down please' and then started typing again.

"Shhhh, just sit still. This'll be fun." he said, holding my eyes with his. He raised his eyebrows at me and then slithered his fingers up to my thigh.

"No, put your hand down." I said in a hushed yell, trying to get his quick hand out front underneath my skirt.

"Come on man, she's just a freshman." the blond boy in front of me said logically.

"Shut-up, this isn't you business. Besides she wants to."

"Are you deaf? I said move your hand." he wasn't moving it anymore, just grabbing my thigh to protest he was staying there.

"Move your hand." the boy said again, standing up. Wayne just looked at him and then stood up too, the blood flowed back into the rest of my thigh. Later I found a black/purple bruise there. I still had scars from where his finger nails clawed so far deep into my skin I bled.

"You gonna do something?" Wayne said aggressively, pushing the boy a little.

He got in Wayne's face and locked eyes with him. "Don't treat girls like shit and I won't have to."

I was about to cry, it didn't help that I had been so nervous about this day for weeks. It didn't help that in second hour I had boy fighting in front of me.

Wayne didn't say anything then, he just punched Jasper in the face. Jasper stood up quickly and then tackled Wayne. Holding him down by his neck and punching him in the face repeatedly. Jasper was very sweet, really, just don't mess with anyone who you know doesn't stand a chance against you in a fight. The unfairest of fights. Senior quarterback vs. Freshman girl.

Jasper didn't have a dad growing up, he was raised alone by his mom who never remarried. She still lived alone, but was very, incredibly even, strong. His mom had left his dad because he abused her. Physically, sexually, and mentally. Whenever she told me stories of her days with him it amazed me that she found the courage to get up the next day and face him again, knowing that his wrath was waiting for her.

After she left, Jasper in her arms, for he was only two at the time, she moved here to Washington, originally being raised in California. When Jasper got older and started realizing that, eventually, there would be a relationship between himself and a girl, she knew she had to teach them to treat them right. Not risk that something he had seen his father do would subconsciously come out and be expressed to one of his girlfriends. So, she taught him right. When he was four and built a club house, he let girls into it because it was the right thing to do. When he was in elementary school and two girl gave him valentines, he told them both thank you, rather than favoring one of them. In middle school when he had his first real girlfriend, he didn't go there when everyone else did. When they broke up, they remained friends. When he was in high school and saw a football player doing a girl wrong, he stood up for her.

He was suspended, but so was Wayne. The next day in class all the players moved to the other side of the room, meaning that I would be in the clear for a few days until he got back. When he did return I thanked him and he smiled. After that things just sort of blossomed faster than either of us had expected.

Faster than Esme had expected.

It was nearing two o' clock now and my mom would be here, at the bank, any second.

The seconds went by fast though.

Eventually it was two thirty, then three, then four.

I tried calling her but she didn't answer.

Four thirty and I told Jasper he could go home if he felt like, he said he'd stay with me.

We went to get coffee. Came back. No sign of her.

Five. Five thirty. Six. Closing.

I was crying now. "Let's go home." I said and grabbed Jasper's hand. I rushed out to the car before I broke down in tears.

I sat in the passenger's side seat and Jasper got in beside me, starting the car before pulling out of the parking lot to go down the road home.

"I'm sure she just forgot." he said after a few moments of silence. "Maybe there was an emergency."

"Yeah, I'm sure." He sighed in a tone of sympathy and then called our friends, Charlotte and Peter, to let them know that we wouldn't be coming, or not tonight at least.

"Okay...will do Peter...tell Charlotte we said hi...I'm sure...okay, thanks...goodbye." he hung up after a few moments of talk. There was silence before we pulled into our driveway.

I saw my mom in the living room instead of in the kitchen where she normally could be found. She was sitting on the couch, staring into the blank space in front of her. She was well dressed, as if she had planned on going somewhere, but the clothes were wrinkled and even tattered in a few places. Her lipstick was smeared and unevenly faded. Her eyes makeup ran in huge streaks down her tear stained face. Her hair was a haystack and looked like it might even be a bit wet. She was a mess, nothing similar to the perfect mother we all knew and loved.

The most curious thing was that she was cradling a clear black bottle in her left arm, and there was a burning cigarette in her right hand.

"Mom what the hell?" I asked as I walked in and Jasper closed the door behind us. The house was a mess and I stepped over the smashed glass and scattered stuffing of pillows that laid across the floor.

"Don't you speak to me like that Mary-Alice!" she said, her voice hoarse, scary, terrifying. How I loathed when she called me by my full name.

I stood in front of her and stared for a moment after throwing my coat across a near-by chair. I looked at her, pathetic and drowning in what appeared to be misery and sorrow. I wanted to feel sorry for her but then I remembered. I was supposed to be mad.

"What happened to the bank today?" I asked harshly, not yelling, just asking sternly.

"I didn't want you to go." she said to me. Plain and simple, no room for conversation or opinion like there normally was.

"Why?" I asked, thinking that question was at least easy enough to answer.

"Because I said so!" she stood up and screamed at me, putting the cigarette in the ash tray.

"That's hardly fair mom. You know that."

"No Alice, do you want to know what's not fair? Having to give my daughter away to one of her high school sweet hearts when she's barely lived. Unfair is watching her innocence slip from beneath her when she could've had so much more. Unfair is having to supply for them both because neither of them is old enough to have a real job. That's unfair Alice and don't you ever forget it!"

"Mom, I love Jasper so don't-"

"Love!" she screamed in hysterics, tilting her head back in mocking laughter before throwing her bottle against the wall. "You, Alice, are nothing but a child who hardly know what love is." she came towards me, grabbing my arm and backing me up. Pinning me against the wall.

"Mom, stop this." I said, begging as she moved her hand up to my hair. Holding me up by it as she slapped my face. I screamed out in pain.

"Hey, hey, hey." Jasper said, coming between us. He had gone upstairs, giving us our time to scream at each other, he probably got concerned when he heard the slap. "There's no need to get that violent Esme, I'm sure you two can work this out somehow." she turned her focus to him then. I'm not sure what in her eyes scared him, but his face was no longer that of the man I had fallen in love with, but that of a terrified child about to face the wrath of a parent. I wondered if that's how I looked.

Like nothing but a child.

"You." she said, bashing my head against the wall before letting me go and sink to the ground in pain, never breaking her gaze with Jasper. "How dare you tell me how to parent my child when you hardly have the ability to get a job. I'm sure you think you have it great with all your adult fancies but just wait until I die and there a whole real world out there where Mommy doesn't just take you to the bank and give you the money to go on your trip. Wait until you find out that you have to start being a man and not a child as you've been. Wait until you find out that the whole world is alot scarier than Alice's parents' house."

"Esme I-"

"Don't!" she said. "Don't try to make excuses and don't try to reason with me. I have every right to be angry with the both of you."

I was cowered in the corner, staring up at the two of them. Watching Jasper's horrified expression shape shift and my mom's crazy eyes stare at him in fury.

I sniffled, starting to cry. My mom turned to me then.

"Oh Alice," she said, her voice a smooth tone of adoration. "Please don't cry. I love you so much my child." she leaned forward and gave me a hug. I hugged her back, wondering why she had changed moods so quickly. Jasper gave me a questioning look from over her shoulder and I raised my eyebrows in shock. She pulled away and laid a careful kiss on my forehead, the smell of wine and cigarettes on her breath.

"Now, go upstairs to your room. I'll clean up here." I nodded, my breath shallow from fear. I got up from my corner and ran up the steps, stopping just above the top step so I could still see what was going on.

"Starting with you!" she said pointing to Jasper. "Get out of my house, stay away from my little girl, and never come back! Do you hear me?" she said, turning him to face the door and pushing him away from her.

"Yes ma'am." he said before heading out.

"Mom!" I said tears streaming down my face. Without Jasper I had nothing. How could she just throw my whole life and more out of the door like that?

"Alice, everything will be fine." she said, turning to the mess. "Yes, everything will be fine Alice. Just fine." she crazily started picking up the pieces of glass and stuffing.

"Mom, her can't leave he has no place to go." I said, trying to refuse what had already happened.

"He had to Alice, he wasn't good for you."

How could she possibly think that of him? That he didn't care for me and just fed off of us? He loved me and I loved him and we were meant to be. And so we would be! He, the one I loved, wasn't good for me when I lived in a place as smothering as this one? How could she even be aloud to think that about us?

"No," I said, protesting in a tone of defiance. "You're not good for me mom!" I screamed in her face, running down the steps to tell her so. "You hate letting me grow up and you're going crazy because it's something you can't change. I'm completely done with this stupidity!" I grabbed my coat from the chair and started towards the door.

I was done, but she wasn't.

"No!" she grabbed my shirt and pulled me towards her. "You're staying Alice!" he eyes begged me and I thought.

She had given me life, while I might be mad at her now when light turned to darkness she was still my mother. She was my caretaker and, if nothing else, the person who, or so I thought, would always love me. She had loved me when I was sick and ill. She had loved me when I had hit rock bottom. She had loved me when I got bad grades in school and messed up on tests. She had loved me when I would come home crying because of mean girls at school. She had loved me in pajamas with morning breath, and when I was at my worst.

However, I couldn't help but feel as though Jasper's love was just as unconditional.

"Yes I am." I pulled away from her in that instance and was nearly at the door when she looked at me again.

"Alice please." she asked.

"No mom," I said, pulling open the door, not a thing in my hand but Jasper in my heart. "I'm a grown up now." she looked beyond hurt and all I wanted to do was take her into my embrace and tell her I was staying. But that was giving in. So before I opened the door and stormed out I said, "It's time to face it."

* * *

**Reviews and thoughts? What do you think of Esme's strange behavior?**

**I know all the secrets.**

**lots. of. love.**

**PLT!**

**~AliceSwift**


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